Need advice to improve

[Dahlium]

Hi!
I feel kind of stuck with my art. I don't really know how to take the next step now to get better.
I'm used to drawing what I see, and I belive it's a problem, since most people here talk about a deep understanding of the form and light, perspective etc...
So I wonder, what is a good way to improve in those aspects?

[Van Douglas]

Read this.

[Jason Ross]

Don't just draw what you see. Study what you are looking at then draw it. Imaginative illustrations stems from this.

[Zombie_chinchilla]

So I kind of have the same question. I was just thinking of starting a topic asking this. I see people post saying to study what you're drawing instead of just drawing it, but how? I just can't seem to get past that part.

[Great Distance]

I used to be the same. I just drew what I saw. I've been drawing but I only started to understand the form and light and perspective stuff after I started studying in landscape architecture school, and after browsing through many many tutorials here on Conceptart and other sites. But the final breakthrough for me was drawing from life, simple as that.

What I'd suggest is take one object. Just one. Pick something close to a basic shape, preferrably white. Or something you can paint white. Or heck, anything you want. Take that object with you, and look at it in the dark. Turn on a light you can move, like a flashlight, and light it from different directions. See what changes in the way the object looks. Realise nothing has changed except the direction of light. Hold the light still, and you yourself move around the object. Find the top view, the side view, all the different angles and observe how the lit area looks in different perspectives. Realise, that the light and the object has stayed the same, only the perspective has changed. Then take the object with you everywhere you go. Look at it outside, in the sunlight, at morning, noon and evening and look how the sunlight differs from a flashlight. Look how the direction of the sun affects the way your object is lit. And so on and so on and so on.

Realise, that there are rules why it looks the way it does. Perspective and light are predictable. Find the rules. Practise. Find more rules. Realise you were wrong about some things. Practise more. Learn more.